When The Golden Bachelor first debuted two years ago, it was a pretty exciting departure for a franchise whose female winners are rarely over 30. It even inspired some seniors to give dating a shot again — a theme the show heavily leaned into. “It’s never too late to fall in love again,” the first Golden Bachelor, Gerry Turner, told Good Morning America shortly before his season aired.
But that’s not how the show’s newest star sees it. Mel Owens, who will be the titular Golden Bachelor in season two, revealed in an interview earlier this month that he doesn’t want to date any women over 60. Speaking on the University of Michigan football podcast MGoBlue, Owens said producers asked him what his dating preferences were. “So I just said 45 to 60. Just being honest, right?” said Owens, who is 66.
That age requirement is strict for Owens, who has been eligible for Social Security for four years now. “I said, ‘If they’re 60 or over, I’m cutting them. This is not the Silver Bachelor, this is The Golden Bachelor,’” he recalled telling producers.
Owens said they also must be “fit,” noting that staying in shape is important to him. “And I told them to try to stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs,” he added. Well then!
Pushed by the interviewer on what he was actually looking for, Owens kept it pretty simple. “Well, like I just told you,” he said, adding that he wants someone who is “energetic, a lifetime learner,” and someone who “enjoys to love life,” whatever that means. Oh, yeah, and someone who likes to “work out and stay fit,” he reiterated, in case that wasn’t clear the first time.
It’s a pretty cold outlook for a show explicitly created for “senior men and women looking for love.” There’s no specific age range required to be on the show, but most states define “senior” as over the age of 65 — which, again, Owens himself is. In the show’s first season, no contestant was younger than 60, and the oldest were 75.
Owens’s season of The Golden Bachelor will premiere in the fall. Good luck to this guy, I guess.
